TO: AC Transit Board of Directors
FROM: Salvador Llamas, General Manager/Chief Executive Officer
SUBJECT: January 2026 Service Changes
BRIEFING ITEM
AGENDA PLANNING REQUEST: ?
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
Title
Consider receiving a report on the District's planned service changes associated with the January 2026 Sign-up.
Staff Contact:
Ramakrishna Pochiraju, Executive Director of Planning & Engineering
Aaron Vogel, Chief Operating Officer
Body
STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE:
Goal - Convenient and Reliable Service
Initiative - Service Quality
The January 2026 Sign-up service changes make reliability and service improvements to the network following the implementation of Realign on August 10, 2025.
BUDGETARY/FISCAL IMPACT:
Total daily vehicle platform hours will increase compared to the August 2025 Sign-up by 102 hours on weekdays, 17 hours on Saturdays and 27 hours on Sundays. This results in a projected annual increase of 28,268 platform hours or the equivalent of 20 additional Bus Operators.
With the percentage of the District's service operated steadily increasing and consistently exceeding 98%, staff is able to confidently reduce the targeted Extra Board requirement to cover open runs from 38% to 36.4%. This allows the District to reallocate Bus Operators from the Extra Board to more assigned runs while staying within the 1,250 budgeted operator count for FY25-26, therefore no change is needed in the operating budget.
BACKGROUND/RATIONALE:
Sign-up Schedule Change
AC Transit typically conducts four Sign-ups each year as required by the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the Amalgamated Transit Union Local #192 (ATU). With the ratification of a new CBA on August 7th, the implementation of the upcoming Sign-up shifts from December to January. The District and ATU agreed to this change to align AC Transit's winter service change with all of the major transit operators in the Bay Area. This provides consistency to public transit customers in t...
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